with coffee in hand

Monday, 10 October 2016

It is Thanksgiving in Canada today. To celebrate, I am taking a break from my usual Mixed Media Monday post to spend with my family...and maybe take a nap. While I'm away, you can check out some of the links below. It's a collection of some of the mixed-media scrapbooking posts from my blog's archives, in case you want a little inspiration today.

Friday, 7 October 2016

Today, I'm sharing the photos from my first week of my October daily challenge. I decided to stay with a mini art journal size. This month, I'm using a Large Landscape Journal from Hand Book Journal Co. Don't let the word "large" fool you though. This journal only measures 5.5x8.5". It is larger than last month's journal but I'm ok with it. It gives me more room to play but it's still small enough to complete a page each day.

This month I have chosen collage as my theme. I ended last month's challenge playing with collage. That means that I can make anything I want as long as it's a collage. I have a lot of ideas that I want to try so it seems like the perfect theme for this month.

Here's a look at my pages this week.

Some Thoughts on a Creating a Daily Practice

I admit it, a daily practice can be overwhelming. I find it's best to think about it as something I am going to do today. If I think about this as a practice that I'm going to do everyday for a year, for example, I get overwhelmed and I start to doubt myself. What will I make? Where will I find the time everyday? If I think of it like a great big project there is too much opportunity for doubt and self-sabotage to creep in.

I like to think of it in terms of what I'm doing today. I plan what I'm going to do in advance. I just think to myself, "What am I going to make today?" Sometimes I have great ideas and sometimes I have no ideas - zero. That's where having a theme each month is helpful. It isn't limiting. Instead, it inspires my creativity because it's a starting point. It's the first step of the process...well, my process anyway. The next step and the step after that all flow from there.

Somedays it's easier than others but it is always worth the effort. It feels good - really good - to make something and share it everyday. I appreciate every like and every follow I get on Instagram but it's more than that too. It is self-satisfying. I make myself happy because I am making time to do something I love. Does that make sense?

I would love for you to join me on Instagram. You can usually find me there - sharing what I'm making and seeking inspiration. My handle is @cathiereed

Monday, 3 October 2016

Welcome to Mixed Media Monday! Each week, I share a mixed media
layout and include the instructions. The instructions contain the steps
to make the project and contain any tips and tricks I have picked up
along the way. If you ever have any questions about techniques or
products that I used to make this layout, leave a note in the comments
and I will get back to you. I
know that mixed media can be intimidating but I think of it as a
creative adventure. Yes, it requires practice and patience but the
rewards are worth it - I promise!

This week, I found myself playing with the Mini Art Stones by Finnabair for Prima. I fell in love with them recently and I was wondering if they could be colored. That little "what if..?" led me to create this layout.

Here's the supply list and instructions I used to make this week's Mixed Media Monday layout.

Please note: You can use a heat gun or hair dryer to dry any of these products or you can let them air dry. It's up to you and how much time you have to create your project.

1. Crumple tissue paper and collage to background. Spread a thin coat of Soft Gloss Gel on the background and press the tissue paper into the background.

2. Apply modeling paste through stencil. I used my silicon brush to put Light Modeling Paste on my background through the Weaving stencil. Set aside to dry.

3.Gesso. Apply gesso to background using an old brush or foam brush. You need something that can spread the gesso in between the gaps of the stencil pattern. Set aside to dry.

4. Add color. For this layout, I wanted to use my Mica Powders.

Just look at all that shimmer.

Spritz water on the background. Dip small brush into jar of Mica Powder
and then brush the powder into the water on the background. Keep adding Mica
Powder until you are satisfied with your background.

Tip: If you are adding multiple colors, dry between each color.

5. Optional: Spritz background with sealant. The Mica Powder does not have a fixative so it will reactivate every time it gets wet. I knew that I was going to add the Mini Art Stones to my background so I wanted to seal the background.

7. Embellish. I added some strips of muslin, wood veneer words and fabric flowers before adding the Mini Art Stones. I wanted to try coloring the Mini Art Stones so I poured some into a small container. You don't need many - a little goes a long way. Then I sprayed some Color Bloom 2 - Brimstone Wings into the container. I mixed it with a palette knife and set them aside to dry. When they were dry, I brushed them onto my layout.

Here's what they look like when they're colored.

To apply them to my layout, I used a brush and Soft Gloss Gel and brushed them into place.

Mixed media techniques and products are so versatile and that makes it easy to create a unique layout that suits your pictures or stories. The layout this week is about my youngest son. His favorite color is green so I wanted a green background and green embellishments. They were easy to make with a few mixed media products - Color Bloom 2 Spray inks and Mica Powders. These products are available in so many different colors that you could make a background to suit your story using the same techniques I shared here today in your favourite color palette. All you need is a little time to put things together and a little time to let them dry.

Sunday, 2 October 2016

This week, the last week in my mini art journal challenge, I spent a lot of time with collage. I have always loved collage work and it was wonderful to finally spend some time learning more about it. A daily challenge is a great way to get things done and dive deeper and learn more about products or techniques.

I realized how much there is to learn and I find that very exciting and stimulating. I was surprised to discover my collage style so quickly - that rarely happens. It usually takes me forever to settle on a style. I often jump from one style to another because I want to try everything. I don't know if it's a benefit of a daily practice but I learned that I like to use grids in my collages. That doesn't mean I won't try other things because I am curious but I think you can expect to see more grids.

So, here's a look at the last pages of my mini art journal.

So, now what?

Well, I've decided to keep working on the mini art journaling challenge. I've had to move to another book because I have run out of pages in this one and it's time to change things up a little. The size is pretty similar to what I used in September but the pages are better quality. I'll talk about the book I'm using share more of the pages next week.

I want to see what will happen if I extend this challenge beyond 30 days. Will it still be enjoyable or will I burn out? Will I run out of ideas? I won't know until I try.

I will be sharing my progress and art journal pages daily on Instagram. I'm sharing my art journal pages there every day and that's a part of the process too. It keeps my accountable and it's exciting to share what I've made and to see how people react to it. You can find me @cathiereed.

Wednesday, 28 September 2016

Lately, I have been sharing the pages that are a part of my yearlong album, Keeping Track of Life or
KTOL. It's an album that I am making in a class that I take at my local store - The Paperie. The class is taught by my friend, Krista.
In this class, we get together each month and make a layout and a set
of pocket pages for a month's worth of photos. I've fallen behind (I
usually do in this class) and I'm playing catch-up. While I wait for some supplies to arrive, I am sharing some pages from my 2015 Keeping Track of Life album.

Last week, I shared the August spread from my 2015 Keeping Track of Life album and wrote about how I love looking back at this album. It is a wonderful thing to see how our family life looked back then. Of course, I flipped through the whole album and the pages from my September spread caught my eye.

We spent some time in the Bahamas last September. It was a fabulous family vacation and one that my kids still talk about. Here's a look at the spread.

And here's a look at the layouts we made in class. It is supposed to be a 2-page spread but I broke mine up and placed the two layouts back to back in a single page protector.

There's nothing fancy about these pages because I made a 6x12" album about this trip. I shared photos of this album in the two blog posts - Bahamas Album Part 1
and Bahamas Album Part 2. - earlier this year. It has all the details and stories and ephemera of a truly great family trip. But I wondered what else happened in September last year.

Turns out, quite a lot happened. We remodeled our upstairs bathroom, Gabe lost his first tooth and Ben started a new pre-school. You wouldn't know it though because none of that is in the album. I guess I was still excited about the trip when I made this spread and didn't even think about these other details but I missed finding those stories when I looked at the album. Luckily, I took lots of pictures and they are organized on my laptop so adding them to this album won't be a big deal.

I don't know if you go back and look at your older albums but it's something that's I encourage you to do. Don't worry about changing things around or adding more layouts - just enjoy them. Making a scrapbook album is fun -absolutely - but looking back is fun, too. I promise.

Monday, 26 September 2016

Welcome to Mixed Media Monday! Each week, I share a mixed media
layout and include the instructions. The instructions contain the steps
to make the project and contain any tips and tricks I have picked up
along the way. If you ever have any questions about techniques or
products that I used to make this layout, leave a note in the comments
and I will get back to you. I
know that mixed media can be intimidating but I think of it as a
creative adventure. Yes, it requires practice and patience but the
rewards are worth it - I promise!

This page is all about the photo. When I took the photo, I thought it
was a cute shot of my kids riding the luggage cart on the way to our hotel room while we were on summer vacation.
That's all I thought it was for years but when I went to scrap it I saw
something that I hadn't noticed before - the expression on my kids'
faces. That's the look of sibling rivalry. Something I'm very
familiar with these days but somehow I missed it back then. So, the story
that I had planned to tell is not the story I am telling with this
layout. It doesn't need a lot of journaling though. The
title and the photo tell the story - two kids, one tablet...uh-oh.

This week's layout uses a lot of the same steps and products that I used to make last week's layout. This is one of the wonderful things about mixed media - using the same supplies doesn't mean your project is going to look the same. You can make it different everytime - if you want.

1. Gesso. Apply gesso to background using a silicon brush or
palette knife.

2. Apply modeling paste through stencil. I used my silicon brush to put Light Modeling Paste on my background through the Harlequin stencil. Set aside to dry.

3. Spray ink. I started spraying the lighter Fairy Pond spray ink
first. Then I sprayed the Brimstone Wings (green). Then I added a little
of the darker Dragonfly Blue to the blue sections of the background. The dark green section was created when the blue and green inks blended together. I chose blue and green for this layout because they are my kids' favorite colors. Then set aside to dry or
dry with a heat gun.

4. Gesso Ghosting. Place your stencil back over
the background and paint with gesso. I used an old paint brush to paint
the gesso on the background. The spray ink was dry and I used the same
stencil that I had used in Step 2. I only wanted gesso on the raised
image so the stencil worked as a mask and helped me control where I
painted the gesso. This creates a subtle tone on tone effect but I love
it. I shared a full step-out of this technique in last week's Mixed Media Monday blog post.

Tip: Your ink must be completely dry before you start this step. It won't work if the ink is wet.

Here's a closeup of the effect on this week's layout. It is a subtle effect that makes the background of a layout more interesting.

5. Embellish. This week, I used some of the bits and pieces from my stash - wood veneer stars and geotag, doilies and ribbon.

This is one of my favourite ways to make my layout more interesting and it's also a great way to use things that are languishing in your stash. The ribbon has been sitting on my desk for years and I'm happy to finally use it.

The phrase stickers are new - Carpe Diem - Posh collection. I confess that I love phrase stickers and I can't resist picking them up every time I find them in a store.

It's all the little details that make a layout special. It's not just the techniques you use to make the page but also the little bits and pieces you use to embellish and the colors you choose. It's all a part of the process.

One last thing, I am teaching class this week at my local scrapbook store, The Paperie. Here's a look at one of the layouts we'll be making in class. If you're local and interested in making a creative mess, please email or call the store (709-726-5323).